Stopover in Singapore

What's the nicest thing about the 20 hour flight back to Paris? If you are lucky enough to have brothers who live en route you can have a few relaxing days in comfort in between annoyingly long and uncomfortable travel legs.

I've been to Tokyo twice now to see Dom and Anna, and I am certainly looking forward to another excuse to visit them - but this time, I had the good fortune of being able to finally fly Singapore Airlines and visit Matt and Caro in the delightful city of Singapore!

How lovely to finally be surrounded by African animals, even if I had to stay in Matt and Caro's tasteful, southeast-asian condo to it!


Family outing

After a tour around the 'other night safari' we headed out to see the sights of Singapore - starting in Chinatown so that I could have a look at the ...


Shop houses

So cute, and nicely designed with tropical weather in mind - to shelter you from the sun and the rain as you inspect whatever the local merchants have on offer.


Architectural juxtaposition

But Singapore is a modern city, so it's not surprising to see the shop houses, the temples and the condo buildings all existing side-by-side.

All that history and architecture and tropical humidity takes its toll, so of course it's essential to stop and take tea and a snack at a traditional Chinese teahouse. This would be where I discovered the untold joys of ...


Pork floss!

It was sitting on top of lightly fried, unnervingly fresh and silky tofu and it was most definitely a 'die-die-must-try' dish. I'm a convert now - will have to search the asian grocery stores in Paris for this delicacy!

Having reached that happy place after our lunch settled, we continued our wanderings around the city. Matt made sure I saw the Merlion at the gates of Singapore harbour - it was far smaller and less impressive than I'd hoped for after cherishing my Merlion souvenir pen - a gift from Beryl Jacka - as a child all those years ago.


The River

Fortunately, the vista over the Singapore River, watching the bumboats putter along in front of the grand colonial building that now houses the Asian Civilisations Museum, as the impressively ominous storm clouds gathered behind - lighting up the skyscrapers in the background - more than made up for any disappointment.

At least, until ...


The rain

... came. We were trapped on this bridge, sheltering under its inadequate archway for a good 25 minutes, terrified by seriously loud and bright lightning strikes landing mere metres away. So we made a run for a nearby bar and forced them to open their tented rooftop where we sat - with a couple of other holiday makers who followed our fine lead - in the only dry section of their roof area, until the rain subsided.

We made a side trip to the very tall skyscraper, despite our bedraggled appearance and sopping attire, to look at the rain-soaked view of the city. A truly magnificent (yet sadly unphotogenic in the inclement weather) view, affording me the opportunity to see what an insanely bustling international port Singapore remains even today. Such a pity the boats were industrial cargo ships instead of Chinese junks with their otherworldly, fan-like sails.

After getting ourselves home and changing out of our wet clothes and having a bit of recuperation time, Matt and Caro took me out to their absolutely favourite local Peranakan restaurant in Changi Village - the Gd O'Times.

The Peranakans are the descendents of early Chinese migrants who came to the Malaysian peninsula and married into Malay families. Their cuisine, also known as Nonya food, is a blend of Chinese and Malay traditions - and it seems, generally abundant with whole shrimp and/or shrimp paste.


Peranakan starter - Kuih Pie Tee

We started with these little tasting cups, filled with cucumber, carrots and cabbage - and I'm guessing some kind of belacan (shrimp paste) dressing. Crispy and delightful and just bite-sized.

We ate a veritable feast, including babi cincalok (pork belly with sambal belacan, ginger flower and kalamansi - a local citrus fruit - juice), babi sio (pork ribs in soy and tamarind gravy), sambal long beans (green beans with king prawns cooked in shrimp paste and chilli!), beef rendang (for me really, as a mild relief from all the shrimp), ayam buah keluah (chicken and pork ribs cooked with blacknut - also called candlenut) which is a Peranakan classic, as was the ...


Otak otak

... blended fish, coconut milk, chilli paste, galangal and herbs, wrapped and cooked in a banana leaf! Man, thank goodness for the lazy susan! Not wanting to leave it there, we finished with some sticky rice paste coconut dessert treats with different tropical fruit fillings, including durian!

The following day was devoted to some more sight-seeing in and around town - Caro introduced me again to the joys of shopping in Asia - find a magnificent item of clothing only to have the last size L almost pop at the seams as you try to pull it up over your upper arms!!! I swear - I'm at least an XXL in Asian gear for women!

After two failed attempts at buying adorable clothing, I was instead able to revel in some more architectural pleasures.


Stairs

Although we did wonder how navigable a staircase like this would be during your average tropical rainstorm in flipflops (the shoe de rigeur in Singapore).

We ate another absolutely Singaporean dish at lunchtime - Matt took us to his favourite murtabak venue. What's murtabak you ask, well ...


Murtabak Master

... it's another fusion dish, this time Malaysia meets southern India. It's a sort of version of roti canai, a savoury, Indian-style crêpe filled with minced meat, egg and onion, lightly and quickly fried in a wok, and eaten with a curry sauce for dipping. Hmmmmmmm ... the locals loved that we loved it!

After lunch we went for a wander through the wet market (so called because the floors are hosed down after closing), but I was unable to cope with the odour that I suddenly encountered.

Now, I've spent some time in the tropics before, and I know that all that heat and humidity amplifies smells in a way that makes me glad Paris is located well into the temperate zone - but, I really didn't think that meats, fish or vegetable scraps left sitting out at the end of market day should smell quite like that!

I was on the verge of nausea - TRULY, and that feeling is one I have studiously spent my life avoiding - and I was about to ask my kind hosts if we could please leave as I was not coping very well, but I couldn't catch Matt who had fervently made his way in certain direction. And thus it was I discovered the secret life of ...


Durian boy!

Oooo yes, turns out he is an enormous fan, and Caro has turned the corner too! I guess it's a bit like fresh coriander - one woman's resounding mouthful of freshness is another woman's mouthful of old sports sock! Perhaps in time I too could come to love the durian, the flavour is very nice (a heady, intoxicating sweetness) once you can get over the powerful aroma.

With Matt at work on the Monday, Caro and I enjoyed a lovely ladies' day out. Started with a wee tour around the grounds of Raffles darhlings ...


Fancy veranda

Magnificent open courtyards, enclosing thick verdant lawns, all encircled by sheltered verandas - my Mum stayed here in the '60s which seems rather decadent, perhaps she wanted to soak up the aura of some of the great literary figures who'd also stayed here, like Noel Coward, Rudyard Kipling and Somerset Maugham? The history says the place wasn't always as grand as it is today, and there were in fact demolition plans afoot in the early 1980s - just before the building was listed as an historical treasure!


Relaxation zone

I did my best to blend in with the foliage! And we did the ultimate decadent thing - of course - and indulged in a ...


Singapore Sling!

While all the other tourists sat in the midday gloom of the billiard room upstairs eating far too many peanuts, Caro and I wisely decided to sit at the bar down in the central courtyard to enjoy our cocktails in sunshine and peace instead.


Calm convent corridor

There are lovely colonial buildings all over Singapore - swamped now by the towering office blocks and shopping centres, all reflective and glittering in the tropical sunlight - but many of these buildings, often the old convents, are homes to some of the country's best small museums and galleries. And we spent the rest of the day bathing in cultural delights.

And then we saw the strangest thing ....?


Climb that hill!

Surely the weirdest location for an escalator I've yet encountered.

We met up with Matt at the end of the day for dinner, this time to sample the delicious dish of 'chicken rice'. As Matt said, most foreign visitors to Singapore have never tasted rice so good - cooked as it is in some secret chicken stock - and I was certainly no exception to the rule. In fact, I wished I hadn't followed the lead of my companions and added so much of the ginger and soy special sauce to my rice, lovely though it was, as it meant I had few mouthfuls of the unadulterated rice left to enjoy (and usually I'm the condiment queen!)


Chicken rice feast!

I left my brother and sister-in-law wishing I had taken just one more day to enjoy exploring their current home, but happy in the knowledge that they were living somewhere where, if not everything was turning out perfectly - expat lives, despite some glamourous highs and amazing opportunities, can be difficult in other unexpected ways - at least they are have the best food in the world right on their doorstep (and it's SO CHEAP)!


Singapore residents